A swathe of drones piled out the gate from the Spatial Ark Land before landing and merging together to create a couple dozen humanoid drones that stood in formation before Esmond.
He looked at them for a second and wonder why they weren't moving but Echo called right away, telling him why.
> Master, I'll need you to use the Inventory Function to summon the necessary goods.
I believe this will be more efficient <
Esmond found no reason to argue and brought up his System Interface so he could open the Inventory window to find everything that Echo would need to build a fortification.
Carter helped out, providing Esmond with a couple suggestions as he knew better than anyone, what was stored in the Inventory.
While Esmond started to unload gun turrets, a couple miniguns, steel, and a couple other things, the drones controlled by Echo were digging away at the crack in the land to make a huge clearing and a fake flooring on top.
Actually, the plan involved a great wall that would have modern weaponry built all over that would be operated altogether by Echo either remotely or by controlling the humanoid drones.
In the meantime, Esmond started to think about creating a suit of armour and equipment that would be useful in such situations if he ever came across one.
He realised that the Hunting Grounds could send him anywhere, though it would always be hostile, it could mean his death from the environment alone if he wasn't prepared next time.
But it also meant coming across different places that might contain some of the materials, plants, ores and more from his past lives.
.
"Carter, could the drones analyse what there is in the soil, plants and so forth."
'The surveillance drones could, but you'll need to send another worker drone to collect it.
I'll let Echo know, so it can start collecting everything around for the space.'
Some of the humanoid drones raced off to either side of the swarm of drones working and left to fulfil Esmonds task with surveillance drones helping from above.
Watching them leave, Esmond thought about putting on some tactical gear that Carter had already prepared however if failed to provide him much protection as his body was already enhanced by the system and cultivation.
So, he just silently stood by and watched the drones in action, talking with Carter every so often to past the time and eventually the time came for the horde…
3
…
2
..
1
.
*Ding*
[Hunting Grounds!]
[Level – 0 Begins…]
[Goodluck!]
.
"Here they come!"
Esmond shouted while rushing for the wall 15-metre-tall wall that had several towers roughly 20 metres apart with missile launchers.
The wall even had a built-in flamethrower that was aimed down towards the huge clearing.
There were about 10 humanoid drones manning the miniguns while the rest of the weaponry was all remotely controlled by Echo.
>Master, my systems show me there is a horde of unmeasurable size…<
>Master, scans show possible flying targets that could become a hassle<
>Please provide suggestions to deal with the concern or would you like me to make adjustments? <
"Make the changes yourself.
As much of a test this is for me, it's also a test for yourself and for me to see your new capabilities."
>Yes Master…<
Esmond watched from atop the wall watching the few towers changing and transforming a little by the drones' nano and biotechnology which added the spare weaponry to the roofs of the tower and made a couple adjustments.
Everything became silent before the storm began…
.
The hellfire exploded from the tall black walls, exploding the wall of beasts that were raging under the influence of the red moon.
The beasts continued to hit a wall of gunfire, missiles, and cannons to create several mounds of beast corpses piling up which soon turned into obstacles for the angered beasts to crash into, at times even dying from impact.
Echo had cleared roughly half a kilometre wide after the huge pit beyond the wall and went about a kilometre deep into the forest.
It wasn't the cleanest work, but enough for Echo to clearly distinguish the beasts that were heading over and leaving enough behind to be an obstacle for those rushing towards the wall.
Esmond watched from a safe distance, seeing the more and more beasts fall to the chaos exploding from the dark walls.
He was surprised in fact by the types of beasts that were coming at him as they were clearly similar to some of the tamed beasts that contracted with people in another life, though they currently lacked a distinctive feature from then.
Regardless, Esmond gave Echo the command to collect the corpses when it got a chance so they could take them back to the Spatial Ark Land.
.
"Echo have you sent the surveillance drones ahead to see how big this bloody horde is…"
After watching the horde endlessly die at the hands of modern weaponry for a couple hours, Esmond began to turn impatient, wondering why the horde wouldn't die off already.
>Affirmative.
Images from the surveillance drones are currently showing a horde that trails behind for roughly 12 kilometres<
Finally with an end in sight, Esmond ordered Echo to let loose and kill everything before packing it all up to take back to the space.
For the entire fight, Esmond had done nothing but watch the fight go done between Echo and the hordes of beasts.
He'd noticed that some of the beasts had grown and were also marginally stronger than the first waves of beasts they whipped out.
There were a couple of times Esmond thought he'd even need to step in, but the beast had yet to make it even close to the pit.
Eventually, Esmond watched for a couple more hours until the red moon started to die down and its radiance was gone, that was also when the beasts regained their reasoning and turned back immediately after seeing the piles of death around them.
Once all the dust and chaos settled, Esmond sent Echo out immediately to start work on cleaning up the corpses as well as packing up the wall and weaponry, so nothing was left behind.
It took roughly 10 or so minutes for Echo to get everything done and stored into the humanoid drones while Esmond checked on the system notification he received.
.
*Ding*
[Hunting Grounds!]
[Level – 0]
[Completed]
[Time to Complete: 7hrs, 35mins]
[Evaluation: S]
[Rewards being calculated based off Host and performance]
[Rewards:
- 1,000,000 EXP
- 1,000,000 Credits
- Taming Ability
- The Great Imperial Xoplis Royal Family Plasma Essence Stellar Core (Stored within Inventory)]
…
..
.
'…Unbelievable…'
Esmond nearly lost his mind seeing a Stellar Core as one of his rewards.
A stellar core is the extremely hot and dense region in the centre of a star, but what's make the gifted one different than those in the centre of stars was its multiple uses.
First off, the Essence Stellar Core could be used to train and improve the purity of the essence within the practitioner of the Imperial Training Manual while enhancing their body as well from the pressure carried by the core.
Another use of the core is to absorb it and break it down within your body by the power of your mind so it can reform within your body and act as a fusion engine that greatly improves the body's strength and power.
There are many problems that are created from taking such reckless actions as it will destroy the body if it's not strong enough to contain the power of the core.
Esmond had his own thoughts for the core which he would test out later and see if his theory worked out or not.
The other item that caught his attention was the taming ability that could be worked on all animals, but the system explained beasts and other monsters would need him to make contact first before the ability could work.
He thought it might have something to do with the number of beasts he killed, but he found out later that there was much more to this ability than he ever thought.
…
..
.
*Ding*
[Would Host like to return home or continue in the Hunting Grounds?]
[Return?]
.
Esmond decided to head back now that everything was cleaned up and packed up by the humanoid drones.
He first sent them back through a gate before clicking to return back home and appearing within the cabin from where he left off for the Hunting Grounds.
That's when he noticed his parents were back home and both relaxing downstairs in the lounge, while he was upstairs.
Before he was about to head out his room and tell them what had happened with his Uncle James, though he knew they already would have heard from them, the system sent him another notification.
.
*Ding*
[Spatial Ark Land has integrated Hunting Grounds]
[Host as well as other inhabitants may enter the gates of the Hunting Grounds try their hand at improving their skill and strength]
[Level – 0 will be conducted on each individual willing to enter and try their hands at the Hunting Grounds]
[!Attention!]
[If user dies within Hunting Grounds, they will not die but it will affect their final evaluation and rewards]
.
*Ding*
[316,487 different species have entered the Spatial Ark Land]
[Host has broken certain thresholds of the Spatial Ark Land]
[Rewards to be calculated…]
[…]
[…]
[…]
[Done…]
[1000 different species have entered the Spatial Ark Land]
[Reward: Creatures will be recreated within the space and can be captured as livestock]
[10,000 different species have entered the Spatial Ark Land]
[Reward: All creatures within the Spatial Ark Land can be automatically tamed by Host but that triples their upkeep and feeding
[100,000 different species have entered the Spatial Ark Land]
[Reward: Spirit Essence can be infused into livestock and crops]
.
[!Attention!]
[Spirit Essence produce cannot be sold or used outside of the Spatial Ark Land]
.
'Ahh… screw it!'
.
*Ding*
[Foreign substance detected!]
[Scannning…]
[…]
[…]
[…]
[The Great Imperial Xoplis Royal Family Plasma Essence Spring has been added to the Spatial Ark Land!]
[Gravity Core has been added to the Spatial Ark Land!]